


Birds flight

by Error_art_not_found



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, Minor Violence, Not Beta Read, Sad, Sad Ending, the other champions are only mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:55:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28862934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Error_art_not_found/pseuds/Error_art_not_found
Summary: Revali, the proud warrior of the Rito, an amazing archer, creater of Revails Gale and horribly arrogant. But who is he really?***Or: i made up a backstory for one of the most interesting characters in breath of the wild
Relationships: Revali & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 11





	Birds flight

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something short an angsty with Revali dying and being sad about the things he couldn't do in life... but then I decided I needed backstory for him, he's just such a great character and I'm sad that we only got so little detail about all of the champions.  
> Also this is not beta read, so there might be some mistakes

Revali knew that others talked behind his back about him, he had known this for a long time, such a long time that he could even remember a time where it never happened, where he didn’t feel like he had to prove himself to anyone, prove that he was not only a warrior, but a strong one, no, that he was worth keeping alive.

The talking probably started, after his parents left the tribe, never to be seen again and leaving him, small, still almost feather less and weak, behind. Nobody knew why they left, but there where theories, theories of how Revalis parents had been so embarrassed that, not only did only one of their eggs hatch, back then it was normal to have at least two to three, but the hatchling was also pathetically small, the chances of its survival so slim.

But Revali made it, much to the surprise of the tribe, they didn’t say it to his face, but he heard the pair of grown-ups that took care of the orphans talk about him once and how they had no hope in him even living through the next winter. They hadn’t known that Revali had heard them, his small size gave him the ability to be very quiet, so they hadn’t heard him.

This was the first time that Revali realized, that he was nothing, or that no one saw him as someone who could do anything. And that was the moment he decided that they were wrong, he would show them, he would live through the winter and the one that followed and the next and the next (never mind that he wouldn’t be able to control if or when he died, but he was a child and very determined).

Time passed, he survived, his baby feathers fell out, and his first thick feathers grew, meaning, that he could now start his training to become a warrior. Revali could still remember how exited he had been, he couldn’t sleep the night before ad had hurried through the breakfast as quick as he could without making to much of a mess. 

He could also remember how quickly his excitement had been stopped, or rather it had disappeared lightly when the instructor, a retired Rito warrior with several scars, told Revali in front of the others students that they had no hopes in him making it, They had said nothing along these lines to the other students, and Revali, small Revali, who was also a late bloomer when it came to his feathers, was from that moment destined to be the victim of bulling, not that he knew that at that moment. For him it just meant he would have to work harder, he would show them, he could make it. 

Sadly, for the young Rito, his teacher wouldn’t even give him the chance to prove himself. They continued to point out every little flaw and mistake he made and even pointed out things, that others did as well. And soon, Revali’s excitement had disappeared, everyday when he had training, he felt rocks turning in his stomach, the dread of being put on the spot again. 

The final straw was when the teacher, after almost a year of teaching them, told Revali, in front of the entire class, that they had been right, Revali was just not made to be a warrior, that over the course of this year he hadn’t grown enough muscle or height to ever be able to fight as well as the others. When it came to weapons, they said, how, is archery was “passable”, but he could hardly use a sword and he was completely hopeless with a spear. Revali could hear the snickering of the others, not that they tried to hide it.   
The humiliation made his talons twitch with the urge to scratch at the floor, his throat closed up, so that no sound could leave him, other than a choked noise, close to a whimper. He couldn’t move, the eyes of everyone around him holding him in his spot. Tears started to burn in the corners of his eyes, he tried to hold them in, but the teacher saw them and narrowed their eyes at him, as if daring him to cry. He could only lower his head and clench his eyes tightly, fighting to get himself under control again. 

He was dismissed from the warrior training after wards, him almost crying being the final reason, according to his teacher. Instead, he could learn how to work in one of the shops, or perhaps the inn, nothing too hard, so that even he could do it. 

For a while, that was it, Revali really was nothing now, and in the end he had failed. 

But the Rito wasn’t happy, he knew that he could be great, he could be a warrior, and if no one wanted to teach him, he just had to learn everything that was important. That would show them. 

He made a plan, he would get nowhere, if he tried to master every weapon used by the Rito, instead he decided to only focus on the bow for now, after all, that was the best weapon to use, both while in the air and on ground, at least in Revalis opinion. He would use all his free time to train, so when ever he didn’t have to help in the shop he went out of the village to train, far away from everyone else.

He started of with normal target practice, mostly barrels that he drew little targets on, if he got good enough with those he would have to try to fight some monster, but before he could reach this point he ran into a big problem, a bow and arrows, sure he could ask to borrow them from someone, but then he had to explain what he needed them for and his pride was already broken enough, a little bit more and he could completely leave the village. So, he had to make them himself. How hard could that be?

Very hard he decided, especially, since he wanted the bow to perfect for him and his size, so he also began to look for books and other things that would help him in making a- no, his bow. 

Surprisingly, it took him not quite as long as he thought it would to make one, the first of many on his way to perfection. And from that point on, if he wasn’t working in the shop or engaging in things that where necessary, such as certain festivals or sleeping, he was training. He had a lot to learn and to catch up to other, so sometimes, sleep fell a little sort, after all, it wasn’t that important.

The problem of not having a teacher was, no one was there to give him feedback on his work, often he just had to try things, sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t and sometimes his body was aching from him not stretching enough, taking a harsh tumble or other things. Him being in pain became an even bigger normality after he began training “with” the local monsters, these beasts didn’t hold back when it came to fighting, one time he was almost impaled by one of their arrows, but he had made it out of there alive and with monster parts, but most importantly, monster arrows. They were sturdier than Revalis, so he began to use them and to model his self-made arrows after their ones. This was how he learned the most, about anything when it came to fighting and survival of fights.

Now, Revali never thought that anyone in his village noticed any of his training, that was until he heard a few other Ritos talk about the mysterious disappearance and of monsters from their nests. They talked with such astonishment and awe about who ever had done such a thing, Revali had to fight to keep his feathers from fluffing up in pride, no one would believe him if he said, that he had been the one to kill them, so he stayed silent. Sure, he had gathered some smaller scars and wounds over his time of training, but no one had seen them, or noticed anything, not even when Revali had been limping a little bit, after twisting his leg in an ungraceful landing, no one noticed anything, or maybe they had just decided to not say anything, he didn’t know and didn’t care.

Revali constantly looked for new challenges and for new ways he could perfect his skill. One day, while exploring an area at the foot of Hebra mountain, he came across a “pit” with a large pillar in it’s middle. That itself wasn’t weird or special, but rather the strong updrafts in this area, perfect to train in the air without having to fear that he would fall or that his wings would tire to fast. The cold of the area was also great to test his own limits and to push them further. And because it was a good chunk away from the village, the chances of someone seeing him train and perhaps, were almost none.

It was because of this place, or rather because of the updraft there that an idea hit him one day, what if he could create his own updraft, no matter where he was? It would give him a giant advantage in fights, and it would be something, that no one else had been able to do until now. Revali couldn’t be a disappointment if he managed such a thing. He just had to figure out, how to archives such a thing, but he knew, that if he put enough time into it, he could do it.

So while he was working at his archery skills he also began on creating his gale, something, that no other Rito had done before.

Working on the Gale had the big problem that he got hurt more often, crashing against the ground or rocks, and getting feathers ripped out by the harsher winds. Some things where harder to hide, even for Revali who had become very practiced in hiding wounds and so, one day, while on his way to his workplace, he was cornered by a group of Rito around his age. Dread began to spread in his body as he tried to push past, but they wouldn’t let him go, if only his gale had been strong enough back then, he would have lifted himself in the sky with it, but he wasn’t anywhere close to finishing it, so he didn’t.

Back then Revali had no idea what would happen next, so when they asked him about his disheveled state his mind short circuit for a short moment. His beak opened to reply, but he snapped it shut with a click, should he tell them what he had been doing, would they even believe it, or should he lie? 

He couldn’t remember why, but he decided, that he would tell them, he would prove that he was not just a small orphan boy anymore, he could be a warrior, no, he was a warrior.  
So he stood up straight, lifted his head proudly, let his gaze wander over the Ritos and with the most steady and loud voice he could muster (without screaming of course) told them, that he was training his archery. Looking back, he should’ve known, how the others would react to it, they laughed, told him that this was a good joke and that, if he was too embarrassed about the truth he could have just said so. They left, some still laughing to themselves, others throwing him dirty and disapproving lucks and some ramming into him on purpose.

The embarrassment burned deep, but Revali was tired from letting it drag him down and making him give up. That day while working he made the decision that he had to prove himself to the village, he would have to kill one of the more dangerous monsters and bring back the remains, maybe then they would see him for who he was.   
After he was done in the shop, he went to the village elder, they would know of any Monsters around the village and the probably wouldn’t judge him for asking, they were nice, always a gentle smile on their beak, there was something calming and homey about them, something that made even Revali feel like he belonged and was welcome. The elder didn’t seem surprised when Revali asked about the monster, instead she pulled out a map on which she marked all of the areas where larger monsters were known to reside.  
He had been ready to leave after that, he wouldn’t need the map, he had the locations memorized in the short time and would mark them on his own map, but the elder stopped him from leaving by simply asking if he had anything for what he planned, or if he needed anything, armor, food, or anything else. 

This surprised Revali, they knew what he planned, had they heard about what had happened that morning? He swallowed as he looked up at them, only to find nothing but worry, but also silent understanding in their eyes, they knew what he wanted to do, yes and they supported him, the elder, she wanted to see him succeed, she wanted to see him return from this self-made mission.

Something felt like it was choking him, it took him a moment to realize it was tears. He swallowed them down quickly, he couldn’t cry anymore, he was not a hatchling anymore. Instead, he balled his wings to fists and spoke, with a voice, that was just barely above a whisper:” I hope I do, but there is just one way to find out.”

Her eyes soften slightly, and she got up, with an order for him to follow her, which he did. She brought him to a small storage area and began to help him pick things out, that he would need such as arrows, something to sleep in and other things to help him survive. The last thing she gave him was a scarf, this would keep him a little warmer and it was a lucky charm, that her mate, who had died a long time ago, had given them as a courting gift. Revali refused the scarf at first, but the elder just wrapped it around his shoulders gently and told him that they had held onto it in the hopes of one days giving it to a warrior with a promising future and Revali could feel his feathers fluff up a little with pride, a warm feeling spreading through his chest.

He left the village the next morning, shortly after the sun had risen on the horizon and he wouldn’t return for a few days. He already knew, which monster he wanted to kill, the Lynel that was closest, so he had to prepare carefully, make sure he had enough arrows, his bow was in perfect shape and that he had a backup one, just in case, which also had to be in perfect shape, breaking one bow in a fight, ok, that could happen, but two was almost impossible.

At some point he was perhaps stalling a little bit, after all, he was about to fight a blue Lynel, he had never even fought against a normal one, and he could die, or worse, suffer a grave injury which would make him unable to fight in the future. But if he stalled for too long, he wouldn’t have any more food and then he would have to return to the village with nothing to show and the elder had put their trust in them and he could not disappoint them anymore, then he probably already had.

If anyone would ask him about the fight now, he would simply state that it been a long and hard one, which he only won because of his archery. Which was true, but at the same time undermined how it had been. What almost no one knew was, Revali almost died, almost lost his wing, the Lynel almost roasted him with his fire breath and his fire arrows, why did it have fire arrows? It didn’t matter in the moment, back then only his survival mattered, and it never mattered afterwards, he had won and killed the monster, no need to think about it anymore.

He had been so focused at first, pumped full of adrenaline, so when the first fire arrow flew past him, so close some of his feathers where charred, making him lose his focus, good thing his instincts made him react fast and hide, but from then on everything became a little blurry, well not just the fight, but also afterwards when he began gathering the monster’s guts, horns, hooves, and weapons. 

His senses really came back to him when he was almost at the village, his bags heavy with monster parts and his body heavy with exhaustion, he was ready to go to sleep and stay asleep for a week or more, but he couldn’t show weakness now, maybe he could’ve rested before going back to the village, but it was to late now, one of the guards had spotted him and now he couldn’t just collapse in front of them, what kind of picture would that paint? Not a good one.

His memories of what came after the guard landed before him where hazy, he remembered the guard not believing that he had slayed a monster, then pulling him inside the village. He also remembered pulling out his trophies, hearing the gasps of unbelieve, after that he had been pulled away by the elder, they had congratulated him, told him that they were proud of him and that they had known he could do this, this was, what he remembered the clearest from back then, the pride form being finally told that he had done something well, something, that made another person proud of him. 

And in the following days more and more people began to look at him with wonder and admiration, but something about that felt wrong sometimes, but he pushed that away, he was loved now, he officially became a warrior, the best Rito warrior at that and they build a flight range for him, for him! Someone who used to be… nothing.

But he had a realization very quickly, if they ever saw him fail, then he would go back to being nothing with no way to return, he could not fail, ever. So, he only trained alone, of course he helped in training other warriors and upcoming warriors, but when it came to his own skills he only trained alone, when no one could see him fall or get hurt or fail. He needed to be perfect for his village, someone that they would see.

A few years went by, with nothing happening and then, as if it were a punishment by the goddess for the long peace, words of calamity Ganon began to emerge. Sheikah began to visit the Rito, looking for old relics. And then they found the mechanical beast, later know as Vah Medoh.

When the princess approached him about piloting the beast, he had been practicing his gale, he was so close to finishing it, but he still lost control, but he had not noticed the princess, who surely had seen his failure. Anxiety build up in his chest, which he hid, no need to show anymore weakness. But the princess, she was so kind, her eyes gleaming with awe, even though she had not even seen what he really could do.

Of course, he agreed to helping her, this would ultimately prove that he was worthy, now he just needed to show her, that he could in fact use his gale, it was risky considering it could fail, but he didn’t think of that is that moment, no, he simply created the updraft and then he soared up, high, high into the sky, flying, not falling. It took him a second to realize that he had done it, he was flying, his gale had worked, nothing could stop him now.

And then he met the other champions, there was Urbosa the chief of the Gerudo, a powerful warrior who could summon lightning with a snap of her fingers. Daruk, the Goron hero, who had the ability to create an almost impenetrable shield around himself. Mipha, the Zora princess, who had magical healing abilities. And then there was Link, son of a noble and knight. He was the bodyguard of princess Zelda and the wielder of the Master sword, the blade that could seal the darkness.

Revali detested him. 

The boy had nothing special about him, sure, he could fight well, but everyone could learn to swing a sword. He was only the hero because the Master sword had chosen him, which, for all that Revali could tell, was simply a coincidence. But not only that, the guy was always so stone faced and silent, the was not an ounce of character in that guy.   
Revali could not understand, why all of the other champions seemed to adore Link the way they did, he couldn’t ask them about it of course, but it still annoyed him.

It was just another difference he had to the others, he wasn’t noble in anyway, he didn’t like Link and he was the only one who had not been born with his ability and only very recently managed to master it. He wanted to fit in, he wanted to be accepted by them, but he was scared of their judgement, so he stayed behind his walls, he’d rather push them away then be hurt by them.

But even though he was so cold and dismissive towards them, he did grow closer to them. 

All of them had at some point done something or acted in a certain way, a certain positive way, at least that was how Revali understood it, Mipha asking him about his gale and listening to him talk about it, Daruk complementing his archery, Urbosa asking him about the beads in his feathers. Zelda had been nothing but the sweetest girl, visiting him and trying to figure out the divine beast with him.

In that time that they spend together they would often talk, which at some point ended in Zelda beginning to curse the goddess and her own father, which she then followed up with tears and her softly sobbing about how much she tried, but she just couldn’t do it and Revalis heart broke, both of them were so similar in many things. He had held her face in his hands, whipped her tears and told her, no promised her, that she was not at fault, she was brilliant and would find her powers soon.

She calmed down after a while, softly apologizing, and he told her earnestly that she didn’t need to. From that moment on he grew a little more protective of Zelda, who had also suffered so much emotional pain and she was only 16. So when he noticed that far of look in her eyes, as if she was lost in her mind, he gently pulled her aside and began to ask her about her research, he didn’t understand all of it, but her eyes lit up in a way, she became something like a little sibling, or at least, what he thought it would be like to have a smaller sibling.

They got the beasts under their control, now the only thing that they were waiting on was Zeldas powers awakening, he knew that the girl was slowly despairing over this, she had tried both springs that she could go to, but nothing had happened.

The good thing was, that her seventeenth birthday was coming up soon, meaning that she could try the last spring, but he could tell that Zelda didn’t have very high hopes.  
The day came, all of the champions decided that they would accompany Zelda and Link to the foot of the mountain and then wait for them to return there. As soon as the both of them couldn’t bee seen anymore Urobosa had spoken up and asked if anyone else had the feeling that something was different today. Revali could only nod in silent agreement, his feathers felt weirdly itchy and there was this strange anticipation in his bones, as if he was waiting to be attacked or something and he had not been able to shake it off yet.  
While waiting he began to talk with Mipha, who proudly began to talk about her little brother, Revali had only met the small Zora child once, but from everything that Mipha told them about him, he could tell that he was on his way to become a great warrior, with the complete support of his family and the entire domain, that thought stung a little.

The sun began to set by the time that Link and Zelda returned, Revali could already tell that it hadn’t worked, she looked completely defeated, her eyes seemed to be glued to the ground, but they had still time, she could still find her powers, it wasn’t to late yet, right?

But then it was. The Calamity awakened, they had to be fast, no time to talk long. The champions began to make their way towards their divine beasts, good thing Revali could fly, otherwise it would have taken him ages to get there, but weirdly enough, the air wasn’t, how to explain it best, free.

Flying guardians were patrolling the air it seemed, but their colors were weird, no, wrong. A red-pinkish glow came from inside of them. He got caught by one of them, by accident, the flying machine took aim at him with a red laser, something that could not be good, he tried to escape them, but the laser never lost him. The beeping that accompanied the laser began to grow faster and faster and then it shot at him, a small beam of light, which Revali nearly didn’t escape.

Paniked he took out his bow, aimed for the things ‘eye’ and shot, the guardian exploded in the air, leaving nothing but a few pieces and a feeling of dread in Revali, he had to hurry home, what if more of these things where back there.

He flew faster than before, pushing on, even when his muscles began to burn, he couldn’t stop, each minute it took him to get there could be a minute wasted. 

The village finally came into few, he could see smoke and flames and he could hear shouting and screaming, and then he saw Vah Medoh, the beast, who was like a friend to him, like a home, she seemed to be enveloped in the weird red glow as well, just like the guardians.

One of these was currently aiming at the head of the Rito guard, Revali quickly took aim at the eye of the guardian, destroying it quickly, the head guards gaze snaped to Revali, who was getting ready to explain, that he had to get to Medoh, but the guard cut him of quickly, waving for him to move.

So, he did, shooting a few guardians down as he went, someone threw him more arrows so that he wouldn’t run out to quick, but then he was at Medoh, she was closed off, but the control panel was ontop of her, so it was no problem for him, he could get up there with a quick gale. He landed softly, looking around for any obvious disturbances when she suddenly let out a loud screech and began to rise into the air.

Panicked he began to run towards the panel to stop her, when he suddenly felt something, a disturbance in the air that made his feather fluff up protectively. He turned around slowly and watched with big eyes as a monster began to form, seemingly out of thin air. He stood there, beak hanging open for a few seconds, he finally snapped out of it, drawing his bow quickly and aiming at the obvious eye, but it was fast as well, moving and creating a small whirlwind which Revali had to dodge.

He flew up into the air now, knowing that he would have an advantage there, and taking aim at the things eye again, he shot, but missed his initial target slightly, as the monster had begun to move again. He cursed quietly; this wouldn’t be an easy fight, but he could do it, he had to.

It was a back and forth, Revali hitting the thing with his arrows, even in the eye, which made it wail out, seemingly in pain and lay on the ground for a few seconds where he could get more hits in and the monster would try to hit him with its laser and the small whirlwinds it created.

The battle dragged on, Revali could feel the exhaustion drag him down now, but he had to push on, he could still win.

But then the first whirlwind got him and threw him against one of the pillars with a loud crash, it felt like something snaped inside of him, he got up again into the air, but he was slower. And then a laser gazed one if his feat, he could feel it burn, and then the next hit him, hitting his leg straight on, making him scream, it was a wonder he didn’t black out from the pain.

But he was slower, he couldn’t focus anymore, each time taking aim got harder, he began to miss the beast and he was slowly running out of arrows, well he had already run out of his elemental arrows, so he just had to hope that he could do enough damage with his normal arrows, but his chances where slim to put it very optimistic, butt he couldn’t think about the very high possibility that awaited him, death.

But he couldn’t die, there was so much he still could do and still had to do, he had to see the other champions again and Zelda, he wanted to teach others his gale, he didn’t want to die here, alone, far from the others.

The next whirlwind hit him harder than the others, making him lose his grip on his bow, ripping some of his feathers out and pulling on his armor.  
It was now that he sent out his SOS, his cry for help, but he knew that it would be to late, even if anyone could enter the beast and come up to him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge many more shots, his body was already aching, and exhaustion made it impossible for him to stay in the air longer than a few seconds.

He just hoped that the others hadn’t been as stupid as him, he knew that they would have tried to free their beasts as well, but maybe they had realized how helpless the fight was and had send out a SOS earlier than him, maybe they had been saved. Maybe they even won against the Monsters and were now helping the princess.  
Deep down he knew that this was only wishful thinking, nobody would be able to get inside the beasts unless they had opened themselves, after all only the champions could open them, but they had clearly lost control over them. 

They would die, if they weren’t dead already and Revali would die with them, all his hard work to became who he was now, for nothing, in the end he was defeated, how frustrating. He only hoped that Zelda would never blame herself for this… he hoped she was safe, hell he even hoped Link was safe, the boy didn’t deserve to die like this.  
Another gust of wind hit him, swiping him of his feet and making him crash against the control panel, he tried to get up again, but he knew it was over now, his body felt shaky and weak, he could move anymore.

And as he laid there, bones and organs crushed, his blood and tears, that he tried to hold in for so long, pooling around him, his vision fading to black and his final breath leaving him, he wished he had told his fellow champions, all of them, how much they meant to him and how they, for the first time, gave him the feeling of home and belonging, he wished he had let them in more, let his wall down more for them, but it was too late now.  
In the end, he had failed.


End file.
